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After suffering a string of heartbreaking losses, perennial bridesmaid Eagle Storm finally shed that unwanted tag by claiming a long-overdue victory as he took out the $80,000 Open Benchmark 74 race over 1600m on Friday.
Ridden for the first time by jockey Barend Vorster, the Australian-bred gelding led from start to finish as he crossed the winning post with two-and-a-half lengths to spare ahead of a fast-closing Gold Hill (Alan Munro) with Iznate (Danny Beasley) a neck away in third. The winning time on the Short Course was 1min 37.14secs.
Coming into this race, Eagle Storm had finished runner-up five consecutive times and while such a run may have frustrated some trainers, Australian handler Brian Dean never lost faith in his charge and believed that a first outing over 1600m would end that barren sequence.
“Really happy with this,” said the former jockey. “It wasn’t that he had no luck in all those previous races, he had chances to win in all of them.
“I was just speaking to his owners down in Australia and told them he was always going to do well once we got him over the mile. I felt it was going to be a nice distance for him.
“It was a good win and Barend rode him beautifully today.”
The South African hoop was less concerned about the aesthetics of his performance and just delighted to get his name on the scoreboard after what has been a trying few months. He saluted just once in April and added only two more last month and has 16 winners for the year.
“Feels good again,” said Vorster, who at this stage last season was closing in on his 30th winner. “I want to thank Brian for giving me a chance on this horse. He’s a nice horse and he was always going to have a good chance in this race.
“In his last few races he ran into some handy sorts and today’s field was quite strong as well. But like Brian mentioned, we were confident that over the 1600m he was going to do well.”
Drawing the plum barrier 1 also helped and the $19 joint-favourite (alongside Captivate) was able to get away smoothly and given a soft lead from the start as the other nine runners fell into line behind him.
Captivate (Manoel Nunes) was the closest as they rounded the final bend but the challenge from the Michael Clements-trained grey never materialised and Eagle Storm was allowed to stretch his legs and advantage down the straight.
“He travelled so well and will be a nice sort in the future,” said Vorster. “At the top of the straight I just asked him to give me a bit and he pushed on and put them to sleep.”
This was Eagle Storm’s seventh start of the year after beginning this campaign with a win which was followed by that procession of losses and Dean felt that the time was right for a well-deserved break.
“I’m going to send him for a spell now. He’s done all this on just one prep and he’s going to have a month off to rest.”
A four-year-old by Danbird out of Stormystormynight, Eagle Storm has compiled a handy record of two wins and five seconds from his last seven outings after starting his career with two unplaced efforts and has collected around $140,000 in stakes earnings for the Eagle Storm Stable.